New Leather for EPM-1

I bought this cool looking leather case from Ebay. This brand is from Korea called Gariz. Basically it is more expensive than the rest. Olympus Singapore do sell their own half-leather case like this but was out of stock at half the price of this one. But I do find the quailty is much better and there is an option to put a gun-shot sling where the cheapter options do not have.

Olympus 45mm f1.8 lens

Had an oppotunity to use this lens to record my daugther and son 1st day of school. This lens mounted on the m4/3 body will become a 90mm lens in terms of 35mm photography term meaning a portrait lens. It is sharp even at wide open. My favourite focal length is still from 35mm to 50mm. However this lens when use to it's advantage is a good lens. The boken effect is good and due to the small size it is really portable as compared to DSLR. Will be a good addition for street and event photography. With the wide aperture opening of f1.8 and sharpness, i can confidently use it at wide open and lower iso setting during indoor shoots.

Below are all shot with f1.8 and ISO 400. No flash. Mounted on a Pen Mini.

The return of 20mm and new 45mm

During the launch of Panasonic GF-1 back in late 2009, I bought it due to the package of standard kit lens and the amazing 20mm f1.7 lens. I enjoyed it and saw the value and sharpness of it. I sold it the whole set due to the quest to explore on Olympus DSLR E-30. However, after Olympus came out the 45mm lens and the new range of Pens cameras like the EP-3 and EPM-1, I finally got the 20mm f1.7 again after buying the Pen mini EPM-1. Adding to the arsenal is the 45mm f1.8 from Olympus. With this setup, I have 2 bright and sharp lens. With this setup, I have to say farwell to my beloved X100 fujifilm too as having a 20mm lens (40mm equivalent) is equivalent to the X100 35mm focal length. I enjoyed the use of 20mm again and found how easy it is to create nice pleasing images than the standard kit lens.

The photos below show the bokeh and the usefulness for indoor shots with available light photography.

Macro Insect

This morning, with 2 days before the New Year arrival, I took some time out to doing some shooting.Went the Hort Park at Alexandra and use EPM-1 with 14-42mm kit lens mount with the Raynox 250 close-up lens.

Zoo Outing with EPM-1

Today, bring my kids to the zoo. The zoo opens at 830am but my kids woke up at 545am. They are just too excited about the trip that they woke up early. We reached the Zoo at Mandai at around 8am and had breakfast there. It was a good day and weather was cooling . Thank God that there was no heavy rain and a safe trip.
Using my EPM-1 , I mainly shooting video. However I saw some good shots and test out the raynox 250 on the kit lens 14-42mm. Looking at the pictures, I can say why I love Olympus. The colours are still punchy even it's a gloomy day today. No need to photoshop and save time.

Just to share some here.

Advantages of X100 and EPM-1

Ok. Here it goes again. Comparing cameras again. Btw, there are lots of sites comparing m4/3 to x100. And to me, I will not want to compare but to see each of their own strength.

In summary, X100 is a piece of beautiful machine made for photographers who are sick of the high tech and complication of DSLR or mirrorless interchangable system. It's retaught me to appreciate why 35mm focal length can tell story and avoid looking into new lens. It was made me work harder and think harder before I click the shutter. However once capture the image, the output is usually "Wow". The image is smooth even at ISO2000 and colours bring me back to the slide film days.

For EPM-1 from Olympus, it is a little system that tells me.." OK, it's time to dump all my DSLR stuff". Previously, GF-1, EP-2 didn't really replace my DSLR. With Olympus and Panasonic input of new and fast lens in 2011and with the new AF system on the Pen (EP-3,EPL_3 and EMP_1), it's so fast and positive , I think it has surpass many expectations.

Is M4/3 the way to go for the future? I think yes. They are the most balance system for mirrorless compared to other brands like Sony/Samsung(Using 1.5x sensor). For NIkon and Pentax, they are using much smaller sensor than m4/3.  I believe the reason they are using smaller sensor is that they hope these mirrorless sales will not kill their own DSLR sales.

It's because of the size of m4/3 standard, that's the reason why the lens (especially the zooms) can  be reduced in size. Look at the zooms from Sony and samsung..do they seem like DSLR lens? Big and ugly.

Dramatic & Pop Art

Trying out this filter again. The clouds are dark but with the filter, it add more drama to it.

For nature subject, I find the Pop Art Filter is the way to go. I love olympus Jpeg processing engine. It has left my Photoshop software useless and save tons of time.